Mineral Exploration

Fall 2015

Mineral Exploration is the official publication of the Association of Mineral Exploration British Columbia.

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20 F A L L 2 0 1 5 Alan Wainwright (PhD, 2008) and the team at Kaminak Gold Corporation, received AME BC's H.H. "Spud" Huestis Award for excellence in prospecting and mineral exploration in 2013 for their work on the Coffee gold deposit in Yukon. "I learned the practical skills we needed to design and carry out the work at Coffee from my industry mentors dur- ing my master's project," says Simmons, now senior geologist, global copper, at Anglo American PLC. "Having industry mentors to check on your skills in the field is invaluable." Connecting the dots Aside from these detailed, deposit-level studies, one of the biggest contributions MDRU has made to industry is in regional mapping and geochronology. From the Metallogenesis of the Iskut River Area project in the early 1990s to the Yukon- Alaska Metallogeny Project today, MDRU research teams have been connecting the dots between individual deposits on a regional scale for many years. "There's a huge amount of value in having someone like us playing this role," explains Murray Allan, MDRU research associate, who manages the Yukon-Alaska Metallogeny Project. "We have the ability to focus on one problem without the distraction of running an exploration project. We have the luxury of being purely in the technical space and can devote all of our time to that." At the regional level, MDRU's current focus is identifying rapid and cost-effec- tive methods for prospecting around porphyry-type hydrothermal systems. By identifying trace metals as far as seven kilometres away, MDRU is hoping to characterize how metals are dispersed around these giant ore deposits. Training beyond university The results of these MDRU research projects aren't locked away in academic journals and company reports, either. During its first 25 years, MDRU has provided more than 85 short courses to industry professionals, often with a hands-on field component. It now pro- vides education and training to about 35 graduate students at any given time, and a team of eight senior researchers cur- rently oversees about 25 projects around the globe. Founded in British Columbia, MDRU is now an internationally recognized research group that is proud to be cel- ebrating its silver anniversary. ■

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